Wednesday, 14 March 2012

Insane Harrassment 3064 Bayshore Park

Mr LC informs the following on 12/03/2012:

First of all, I would like to congratulate you for the great initiative on your site against the rudeness of the taxi drivers in Singapore nowadays.

My job requires many, many taxi journeys around Singapore in different locations. I had plenty of incidents and I witnessed countless times of indecent and rude behavior from many taxi drivers, but nothing compares with the incident I had last Thursday (8 of March 2012) @10:25 am in Bayshore Park - East Coast.

I booked a cab and I got one shortly. I went in front of the building, saw the cab and, as I wouldn't want to take other people's taxi- I decided to politely ask the driver if he was booked with my name. The following dialog took place:

Me: " Good morning sir. Can you please tell me if this taxi is booked?"

Taxi driver: " Who do you think you are to ask me that question?!" - in a very loud and rude way.

Me: " I am sorry sir, I just want to know if this taxi is booked on my name since I just booked a taxi a couple of minutes ago and I received the confirmation that it arrived".

Taxi driver: " Who do you think you are to ask me if I am booked or not?! This taxi is not for you!"

I checked the number of the taxi and I apologized (shocked by the man's behavior).

In the meantime, my taxi arrived and before taking it, (again politely) I decided to ask the angry taxi driver if I upset him with something and tell him that his behaviour is not appropriate.

Instantly he got out of his car and in front of other shocked people passing by, he started to yell that he is going to sue me (over and over again) if I will complain about this incident. I got in my taxi, but he was coming toward my car repeating "I am going to sue you! See you in court!" and (!!!) showing me obscene gestures with his hands and body repeatedly.

I nicely took his car number, 3064, but I don't have the full number - as I was in shock and frankly quite afraid by his inappropiate behavior. I remember it was a half black \ half yellow cab. It might have been a private driver - @50 years old.

Being a kind man and tending to forgive, I firstly wanted to just let it go and not let it affect my day, but the driver of the taxi I got in, also shocked, told me that this was absolutely not right and I should call LTA immediately. I did call LTA and submitted a complaint against the taxi driver. I also took the particulars of MY taxi driver (name and car number) just in case I'll need a witness.

This is not my first incident but it IS the first one I'm complaining about, as I can't tolerate this kind of behavior anymore. There are plenty of people out there willing to get a job in these taxi companies.

This has to be looked into and I am very determined now to pursue this case and follow it closely until appropriate action is taken.

I am tired of closing an eye on the fact that many of the taxi drivers in Singapore are rude, nosy, drive much too fast (sometimes the speed reaches 140 km/h! while barely able to keep their eyes open, as they are very tired after a long shift). This incident was the last drop in the bucket for me. The situation is way out of control. There must be some rules that apply to them and an authority that supervises what they do.

Please advice me on what I can do. This kind of people must be stopped from behaving like in a jungle. Common sense tells me we need to be civil to one another, regardless of race, age or social status.

This is precisely what happens to all of us. We keep quiet and tolerate these drivers time and time again because [they are old/it's a difficult life for them/we have no time to pursue the matter] - and the only thing this serves to achieve is to encourage worse behaviour from them. And only when the behaviour is outrageous or when our life is in danger do we think about pursuing the matter. Unfortunately, it is too late by then and the hooligan you've had the misfortune of dealing with in this case is probably beyond redemption. This ruffian needs to be removed from the roads now for the safety of the people but he may have been saved if a few of us had lodged a complaint at the point when he was just an obnoxious and rude driver. Thank you for appreciating this little blog and I hope the many others who drop by here take the effort to lodge a complaint with LTA through their online feedback form whenever they come across rude drivers. As a rule of thumb, I lodge a complaint when the behaviour is something that I would not tolerate from my teenage daughter or from my colleagues. We shouldn't complain for petty things but we also shouldn't tolerate callousness.